Tuesday 27 December 2022

Fibremood Patterns, Edith Blouse

It's not difficult to see why the Edith Blouse hashtag is trending on my Instagram right now. The pattern is super chic, super cutomisable and super easy to fit. There's an abundance of varied fabrics paired with this pattern on the socials - basically anything goes. 


My fabric was a birthday present from a shopping to trip to Hillsborough Fine Fabrics - I was immediately drawn to its William Morris-style romantic utopianism and neutral tones. The fabric is light and drapey but didn't proove too much of a nightmare to sew with. I used fresh microtex needles to reduce the rick of snagging, and used only one needle in my overlocker so the seams were more delicate. 

Although the Fibre Mood magazine has fully illustrated instructions I would recommend going to the website and following the sew along step by step as some of the images can be left open to interpretation. Also - don't do what I did and skip straight to the fun part - if you've never made a Fibre Mood Pattern before it might be useful for me to let you know now that the seam allowances aren't included on the pattern sheet, so you'll wanna add those on when you trace it off. Of course I'd already cut my toile before thinking to check what the seam allowance should be and that's when I saw it. I still made up my muslin but reduced the seam allowances as much as possible so I could try and invisage the fit. 

The side seams and sleeve seams are straight and there are no darts in the bodice, so this makes fitting quite simple. 

I would also recommend making sure you 100% include the tailors tacks at the insert/bodice points - as matching these up is integral to getting that nice neat V- finish. 


I followed the instructions pretty mcuh down to the T- overlocking raw edges before sewing them and pressing them open (not like me at all as I pretty much ALWAYS finish them together after stitching the seam). As the fabric was quite delicate though I thought this could make all the difference. I did however change up how I stitched the neck band on though - I stitched the outside to the top neckline and then slip stitched the inside down by hand, instead of sewing the inside down then topstitching the outside down. Basically I didn't trust that my topstitching was going to be very neat, and the pressed edge was still a bit springy so didn't trust it to behave when sewing it down from the top. There were no detrimental effects from sewing it my way, so if you're not feeling super confident about your top stitching abilities then I would deffo recommend sewing the inside down by hand. 


I also omitted the top stitching around the ruffle. Once I'd sewn it in, I really loved how naturally all the pieces seemed to fit together. Again- worried wobblie topstiching could ruin the effec, I decided not to sew down the ruffle's seam allowance. 


The fun part of this blouse has got to be making the ruffle. Pay attention to those notches on the side seams as you want the ruffley bit to sit in between these and be flat over the shoulders. This is such a simple idea in the design but really perfects the silhouette of the blouse and stops the shoulders becoming daft and bulky. 


The hardest part of the pattern, which I think most people will agree with, is battling though those beautiful ruffles to neatly stitch those V-points where the yoke is sewn to the top without getting anything caught where it shouldn't be. If anyone did this in one attempt I will be very impressed!! I was nervous that my delicate fabric might not take kindly to too many attempts at this, the last thing I wanted was snags running down from the points! To add to the stress here, you want to make sure the V is pointing directly to the V at the bottom of the ruffle otherwise it will be really obvious if you are off centre! 


I was really proud of my matching up, and the fabric ruffles and flows so nicely. The gathered effect is echoed at the cuffs too. Elastic is inserted into the hem, letting the billowy sleeves fit nicely at the wrist (be careful not to catch the elastic as you sew). I found this stage pretty fiddly too but the effect was worth it. I might make the sleeves a little longer next time, but I don't think this length was too short. 


I was a bit nervous about doing the buttons on the back opening, but with a bit of help from some fray stop (highly recommend!!) the buttonholes are really neat and there's been no snagging. The buttons I found in Hillsborough fine fabrics are a lovely match to the print as well. Very happy with my find! 


Absolutely love this blouse. It's smart enough for work, but special enough to be eye catching and suitable for social events and errrrrm, wearing in your own music video. The neckline gives it a bit of a 60's feel and the ruffle gives it a bit of a superhero feel (yep I said it), power-points all round! The ruffle is omittable, customisable, aching to be crafted from a contract fabric... there's so much fun variation to be done here. 

A great introduction to Fibre Mood patterns! 

x
Location: Sheffield Antiques Quarter / Botanical Gardens
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